Signal Mapper Tutorial

This tutorial will guide you through the steps to create a Signal Map and through the entire Signal Mapper use case.

Site Preparation

Before arriving onsite to collect data for the signal map you will need to create a building model. The building model serves two purposes. First, it is used for display purposes to show the building floors and floor plans alongside the tracking and signal information. Second, the building model is used in the navigation algorithms to help determine which floor a user is on. Knowing how many floors there are in the building helps NEON solve the building floor heights. Information about the building outlines is opportunistically used to improve tracking performance.

Obtain Floor Plan Files

Floor plan files can be obtained from many sources such as the building owner, the building website, or a conference website. Floor plan images must be in .png, .jpg, .jpeg or .pdf format. The size of the floor plan image will determine how clearly the floor plan is displayed on the screen. However, the larger the floor plan file, the slower it will load in NEON Command and in the Signal Mapper app. When higher resolution images are loaded in, the images may not be rendered completely. We encourage downscaling the images to a lesser resolution.

Create a Building Outline

1. Right-click on the map and select “Scan OSM Buildings”. This will scan the database of Open Street Maps buildings. The buildings that are available for import will be displayed on the screen as a gray polygon with a dashed yellow outline. Click on a building to import it.
2. If your building is not available from the Open Street Map database then you can manually create the building outline. Right-click on the map and trace the building outline by clicking on each corner of the building.

   Note: The best practice is to trace the roof of a building and then use the editing tools to translate the building outline to match up with the true footprint of the building.

3. A prompt will appear with fields to enter the building name and number of floors. Enter this information.
4. Add a floor plan image by first selecting the floor, then right-click and select “Floor Plan > Add Floor Plan”. A file browser will appear. Select the floor plan file.
5. Adjust the floor plan by right-clicking on it, then use the control points to rotate, scale, and translate the floor plan image.
6. Adjust the building outline if it does not line up with the floor plan image by right-clicking the building and select “Floor > Edit Layout”.
7. Save your building using the save icon. The building will automatically be saved to the Cloud so that other members of your subscription can access the building.

Adjustments can be made to the building by opening up the “Building Editor” in NEON Command or in the NEON Signal Mapper app itself. For more information on the Android Building Editor please see this article.

For information on how to keep building data in local memory and prevent it from syncing with the Cloud, refer to the offline buildings feature.

On-Site

Once you are on-site, it is time to collect data for the Signal Map.

Pairing the Tracking Unit

The NEON Tracking Unit must be paired with the Android device in order to track your movements.

Attach the tracking unit to your belt in the front or back center. Once the Tracking Unit is placed, pair and connect to it. Do not move the Tracking Unit once it is attached to your belt. Avoid placing the Tracking Unit on your hip and never clip it or place it in your pocket. Doing so will degrade the tracking accuracy.

Once the Tracking Unit is paired and connected, attach it to your belt in the front or back center. Do not move the Tracking Unit once it is attached to your belt. Avoid placing the Tracking Unit on your hip and never clip it or place it in your pocket. Doing so will degrade the tracking accuracy.

Initialization

Initialization is necessary to calibrate the NEON Tracking Unit to your gait. Initialization must be achieved each time you power on the Tracking Unit. You can initialize by performing double check ins.

1. Walk to an area that is easy to identify on the map such as a door way or hallway intersection.
2. Tap the check-in icon and move the pin to the location where you are actually standing.
3. Tap the green check mark to apply the check-in. You should now see your location update to the location where you dropped the pin.
4. Walk at least 10 meters forward and perform another check-in. At this time you should be initialized.

Start Mapping

Tap the green play button to start mapping. You can view signal data by tapping on the signal information displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Stop Mapping

Tap the red stop icon to stop mapping, and then select a method to save the file. You can upload the signal map to the Cloud to open the signal map on Command later. Or, you can save the signal map to your device and sideload the map onto your PC later.

Generate Signal Map

Now that we have completed the data collection it is time to generate a heat map.

1. Open the Signal Map from the “File > Open > Cloud Signal Map” menu.
2. Select the Signal Type from the signal side bar.
3. Select the Signals to be visualized from the “Signal Map” side bar, then click the “Generate Map” button.
4. The signal map is now visible, you can switch to 3D or select a different floor to view its data.
5. You can export the signal map information by clicking on “File > Export” and then select the format with which you would like to export to.